Black Rain
by ChibiCritique
Summary: The world around us, our way of life, was surrounded by what could only be deemed as a Genjutsu from the very beginning of our history. We are not alone. My name is Dante Namikaze, and this is my story in how I make my place in a world that's much bigger than we could ever have imagined.
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

**Black Rain**

**Summary:** The world around us, our way of life, was surrounded by what could only be deemed as a Genjutsu from the very beginning of our history. We are not alone. My name is Dante Namikaze, and this is my story in how I make my place in a world that's much bigger than we could ever have imagined.

**Author's Notes:** So yeah just a heads up, this is my first story. Also important to note, is that this'll be a Next-Gen fic, so the main character will be an OC of mine. I usually despise these Next-Gen fics, but since that just makes me look hypocritical, I decided I might as well give it a swing and see if my hatred of these fics is justified. Another thing is that what'll probably most likely happen in all of my stories is that this will have major elements added from other animes/games/fanfics. Don't worry I'll properly give credit if it's that noticeable. This will take place after the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Oh and there will be uncensored swearing as well as gore, so this fic will hike up to rated M sooner or later.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything else that could be associated within this story, except this story cuz the story is mine, and if you want it you gotta pay for what it's worth (which in reality the value of this story isn't much, and would result in me paying the buyer, heh).

Chapter 1: Prologue

I looked in discontent as another foreigner walked by. Dammit, why did otou-sama have to welcome these people into our village? Seriously, you'd think that after going through a Fourth Great Shinobi War everything would go back to normal, or as normal as a world filled with people that could stealth kill you at a moment's notice could get. If anything, it should have been better now that otou-sama became Hokage and peace was supposed to be spread throughout the Elemental Nations. Well, I suppose in a way it did, but only for a while.

Maybe I should really start explaining what the hell is going on shouldn't I? My name is Dante Namikaze, the son of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze as well as Hinata Hyuuga-Namikaze. (What don't believe me? Say it to my face and see if I don't cleave off yours first, I'm the youngest Anbu recruit for a reason damn it!) According to what my parents told me, during the war, the Allied Shinobi Forces, by all accounts, should have lost that final fight during the war. After a grueling confrontation between the ASF and the Akatsuki, moments before he was dealt the coup de grâce, Madara, being the massive asshole that he was (Father's words, not mine), decided to go all in and unleash his plan with the Infinite Tsukuyomi despite his weak condition, which was stupid in my opinion. I'm assuming he had Chakra Exhaustion when he decided to jump the gun, so combined with the obvious wounds that usually come from a long battle, especially if Dad was involved, he would have died anyway, and that would've just created a world of no free will and no ruler to rule it. Heh, bad guys are stupid, or maybe all those hits from Dad and everybody sent him on a new level of high? I don't know.

Moving on, what happened next couldn't have been expected by anybody. I couldn't accurately describe to you what happened next, one because like I said, this was before Dad even hooked up with mom, and two, this really was unlike anything ever preceded even amongst shinobi. Apparently, Madara-teme screwed something up when he went with his "Eye of the Moon Plan", so that instead of casting the Ultimate Genjutsu, he created the ultimate Genjutsu _Kai_. I know, even I had difficulty understanding. The way okaa-sama described it, it was like the world around them shattered, literally. Like, if I had to use an example, it would've been like taking a glass painting of the sky, smashing it with a hammer and letting the pieces fall off, only to have the sky be as it were in its place. Understandably, panic struck throughout the allied forces. Did Madara finally "win"? Was all for naught? Was free will really gone forever? What other kind of cliché questions were there to further build suspense?

Dad, being the most awesome pre-Hokage that he was (at the time anyway, ha), along with the aide of the risen undead of the previous Hokages (if I was anyone else, and my parents weren't the ones who told me this story because I couldn't go to sleep and that any other bedtime stories bored me the fuck right out, I would've stopped listening at this point) and the current Kages, assisted in rallying the shinobi forces and prevented the situation to escalate further than it already would have. Sensing that all was well, it was then decided that the Shinobi Alliance would proceed to salvage anything left that the war haven't already annihilated. All leftover resurrected shinobi that helped during the last confrontation were to be sealed. The same could be said for some of the major key players of the war that also perished, like Obito Uchiha, Might Gai, Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, Mabui, Ao, etc. Everyone else was given a proper funeral. It didn't matter which side they sided on. What was leftover of the Allied Shinobi Forces, or rather, the rest of the Shinobi World for that matter was generally exhausted and just wanted to move on ASAP.

Despite what the war had costed and the sacrifices that had to be made, all seemed pretty well after that. Peace really did come for the Elemental Nations at last. Tsunade-obaasan retired, which meant Otou-sama finally became Hokage and later married okaa-sama. My godfather Sasuke Uchiha returned to Konohagakure and was arrested, but eventually was released on the basis that he would be kept on surveillance for quite a while in that he would remain loyal to Konoha. I think Dad had something to do with that. Couldn't say the same about his teammates and Orochimaru of the Sannin, mainly because I don't remember, it's been awhile since I've been told of this story and I kind of zoned out when it was being explained to me. There was something about a wannabe Swordsmen of the Mist being forced back into Kiri and how he had to help train next generation of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri, some psychopath got killed in the middle of the fight protecting Sasuke-kyoufu. Oh wait, I remember my relative Karin was in my godfather's team too, and like him, she was kept on surveillance/parole and had to help improve Konoha's Hospital. I think the biggest surprise was Orochimaru of the Sannin. I remember for sure that for some reason he surrendered and agreed to a life sentence in the highest level of security that Konoha had to offer. Fast forward a few years, okaa-san gave birth to me, as well as my younger brother, Ryo Namikaze. I'd rather not talk about him right now; he's a whole 'nother story altogether.

Yup, for the first few years of my life, all was pretty dang alright with my life. Alas, this was just the calm before the storm. If I had to pinpoint exactly where in my life where everything turned into a total clusterfuck, it would be when I was three, when I had finally took notice of my surroundings and began to frequently catch sight of _them _more often. Remember when I mentioned about how Madara-teme's last second shot of his plan completely backfired on him? His genjutsu release didn't only just make a pretty crack in the sky at that time. He really did release a genjutsu that was placed on the entire Nation. A few months after the end of the war, when recovery really started taking place, there were recent sightings of strange people, foreigners that said they came from places unheard of on the maps of, well _anywhere_ here at home. It wasn't just in Konoha either. Iwa, Kumo, Suna, Kiri, heck, even places like Nagi Island and Tea Country had sightings. They weren't monsters or anything weird you'd see in a children's drawing, they were human just like us, but weirdly enough, they were so different at the same time. The way they walked, spoke, the clothes they wore, the languages they spoke, the strange machinery they came here in. Everything about them was so weird, so _abnormal._ Eventually, when more "official" people started to show up (I mean, they looked important), Otou-sama was able to gather an audience with a few people that spoke our language (apparently it's called Japanese to these people, what the fuck?). As we learned more and more from these people, the more we knew for sure how complicated life was going to get for pretty much everybody. The world we shinobi thought we knew perfectly well was just a drop in a much bigger ocean, literally. In fact, the world was much bigger than anyone could have guessed.

When it got to the point where place of origins were discussed, these outsiders were pulling out maps of places completely unheard of: Japan, Australia, Russia, Indonesia, Italy (when I asked, okaa-sama said my name originated from here after she had traveled there once and was quite taken by their culture, where she got the idea of my name from some poet), Britain, the United States of America (I know right? Stupid-ass name). Apparently, our Elemental Nations was somewhere between this "Asia" continent, and "North America". Unfortunately, this only increased the amount of questions everybody had. No matter how powerful a genjutsu could be, it only affected the body's senses; strictly illusions. Based on the history of some of these countries, it wasn't uncommon for some of their people to travel around the whole globe in contrast to our Nation's isolationist attitude, so why was there never any sight or even a hint of the Elemental Nations or any other continent's existence? Despite months of "research", and I use this term lightly because despite the evidence, there was never any residue chakra that usually came from an illusionary technique that could be used to probe and further study in any way, therefore no solid answers could be drawn. The only thing we knew for sure was that whatever made the Veil (as what we came to call henceforth) in the first place was before even the Rikudo Sennin's time, and that it was created via an energy source that couldn't be classified as chakra.

The closest thing to a breakthrough we could come across originated from another sort of foreigners. These strangers were, above all else, something different all together. They were still human of course and it wasn't like these people were asses or anything, but there was something about them that made us more wary of them than the ones that came first. It wasn't just the language, or the robes/armor they termed as everyday clothing, it was just the general feeling one would get when in their presence. These people were strong; strong in a way that made you take them seriously despite the way the held themselves and looked. Like the other outsiders, these people came from places unheard of: Rune-Midgard, Tamriel, Valoran, and so on and so forth. Things got way freakier when we discovered just what some of these people were capable of.

For the "less-threatening" strangers, the ones that came to the Elemental Nations first, while their technology was indeed very impressive (My trips to the bathroom were always interesting ever since I came upon the amazing technology of Walkmen's and Gameboys! To this day, Ramen and Pokémon will forever remain as the greatest inventions in the history of mankind) and admittedly more advanced than anything we shinobi could even hope to replicate, if you took those away they were about as threatening as the civilians we had here in Konoha. These newer immigrants however, they were capable of feats only we shinobi could imitate, but somehow were able to do so by merely mumbling some weird words and waving a piece of wood around, if at all. Levitation, sparking flames from out of nowhere, morphing an object into another, teleporting, and other would-be impossible feats was just mere child's play to these people, literally. I could swear that one time, I saw one foreigner shoved another into a mirror and trapped him there, only for the two to laugh it off when his friend pulled his friend back out. Kami-sama, if we had access to these skills, who knows how the Fourth Great Shinobi War would have ended up! When asked on how they were capable of such feats, though, they merely replied with:

"Magic".

…

Hold on ass faces, I'm not done telling my story, don't leave yet! Though I guess I could relate; there was no way such bullshit would provide a satisfying answer right? Unfortunately, though, they couldn't even provide a decent explanation. Either this "magic" was just too much of an everyday basis for their culture to properly explain, or they were just being cryptic dicks on purpose. Regardless, nobody was willing, or in some cases, capable of giving up many secrets so the best that could've been done was sign some treaties and try to make the best of the situation, and surprisingly for a while it did work out.

After the Fourth Great Shinobi War, it was just kind of unspoken that it was time to change and move on, that included to slowly, but surely drop our isolationist views and open up to what the world provided. The economy just sort of exploded for the world as there were so much more new and different things to trade and sell now. Jobs like ambassadors and translators were always welcomed as occasionally they were sent to other countries to build better relations with them. The Elemental Nations also took an idea from the west in opting out to try a kind of exchange program where we would send a handful of our people to the other continents and to learn as much as we could about them, and they to us. When it came to learning about each other's fighting styles, however, that was where we hit the proverbial wall. Because controlling one's Chakra was supposed to be taught at an early age, there was next to no foreigners that could be taught any of our nin- or genjutsu with perhaps a few exceptions. When they were finally able to come up with a good explanation, the Magi (the proper name the foreigners capable of magic called themselves, at least, those from Rune-Midgard) interpreted as "the mental energy harnessed from gathering the electrical signals the body uses to communicate with its nervous system and to project it to the physical world to manipulate freely as one wishes so long as the action falls within their limitation and skill".

…Yeah, all this meant to me was that I couldn't fly or make things 'splode at will. Shit.

Well whatever, even without magic, I was still considered one of the Elemental Nation's greatest shinobi, hell I was THE shinobi if anything. The second Rikudo Sennin they even call me. Eldest son of the Rokudaime Hokage, youngest Anbu recruit at the age of six, and overall a pretty awesome slice of cool. That's right, my name is Dante Namikaze, and this is the beginning of my story, because Destiny is my bitch.

**Author's note:** So this is the first of what I hope to be many successful chapters. As I said before this is my first shot at fanfiction, period. Some of you may notice that there's probably a shit ton of holes/gaps I left out in the story. This is because this story is just a prologue to what will be my main story. Also note that for all intents and purposes, my character Dante will be overpowered like all hell, but he will still have character flaws and weaknesses. However, do not hesitate in PMing me and leaving a review, for I am a grown-ass college freshman with self-esteem issues who has way too much free time on his hands.


	2. Chapter 2 - Hi my name's Dante, and I ha

Black Rain – Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** Yo, guess whose back?! Don't answer that, I don't expect anyone to know me yet ha…Anywho, another chapter is locked and loaded, and I just have to say, this shizz is a lot harder than I gave credit for, so props to those who have been doing it for a while now. Whatever feel free to drop a review when you're done. My goal is to have more reviews than the number of likes I get in Facebook (which really averages to about 5 per status really…)!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything else that can be associated in this fiction. Can someone, like, drop cash instead of reviews for me? McDonalds doesn't accept any of my reviews….IF I HAD ANY…

Carry on…

Chapter 2: Hi my name's Dante, and I have a stabbing problem

"Again," sensei demanded me as I got struck down by him for what seemed like fiftieth time of the day with a metal pole. I wasn't exactly exaggerating either. Even when compared to what was considered standard from training with Anbu, to me the man (if he could even be called that) that was currently handling my training was nothing in short of a giant A-hole who-

My monologue was again interrupted by Lance-Sensei who, like always, refused to hold back during our sessions together. The fact that he used something as simple as a metal pole was strange in itself, as he usually brandished large, pointy/sharp objects when it came to my training.

"Get up". That sadistic little motherf- "You just thought I was a giant A-hole again, didn't you?" Even with dirt and sweat clouding my vision, I could already picture that little smirk he always had whenever he "trained" me, the kind where it was only visible if you actively searched for it, but might as well have been a shit-eating grin coming from him.

'Oh yeah, see you're going to beat me up! This is why I call you an asshole in the first place! You know, it's good- DAMMIT STOP HITTING ME!' My conditioning in Anbu was probably the only thing that kept me from showing even a sliver of my, well, let's call it annoyance with my sensei as he once again attempted to strike me with a metal pole, but I merely scoffed and parried, to which he then dodged and backed off. For a Foreigner, he was damn good to be able to keep up with someone like me, much less tutor me in kenjutsu as well as what the world outside the Elemental Nations had to offer.

Without a word, I readied my own Anbu-standard issue tanto for his next move, when he lowered his stance, "That will be enough for today," he replied with his usual slow, mystical tone that he always used when conversing with others, no matter who it would be. Another thing that I disliked about Lance-Sensei was the stark contrast that came with his speech pattern and his unrelenting swordplay. If it weren't for the fact that I could barely go through a training session with him without me sucking on air by the end I'd recommend someone shoot him with a shot of adrenaline, because that teme just made you want to be impatient and tell him to hurry the hell up and get to the point, which reminded me too much of Kakashi-sensei, another bastard teacher that had questionable, albeit useful teaching methods.

Still though, that didn't stop me from voicing out my concerns, "I can still keep going". Say what you will, results were still results and training with Lance-sensei always guaranteed them.

"I have an errand to run that will take up the rest of the day, we will have to pick up on this tomorrow", he drawled as with a flick of his wrist, he somehow willed his metal pole to disappear in a dull, dark flash, no trace of it left anywhere, or whether it even existed in the first place (damn how I wished I could do that, not that I'd admit it to the jerk's face mind you). Still, the fact that the training session ended so early would probably explain how I was still able to stand up on two legs by myself.

I was never really the superstitious type, but being a ninja made you quickly learn to not jinx shit and take things for granted, so without another word I just sheathed my sword and allowed myself a short reprieve, nothing too outgoing of course. Even if he wasn't a shinobi himself, I wouldn't put it pass Lance-sensei to resume training just because I looked like I was being too relaxed; it wouldn't be the first time he did that anyway. He started torture/training sessions for lesser reasons too now that I stopped to think about it. Before I could continue on with this train of thought, his voice brought me back up to speed, "It's Sunday too isn't it? Don't you usually visit the hospital during this time of day?", and without another word, he went off his own merry way.

That bastard. Even if he wasn't part of Konoha's shinobi military, the guy was damn perceptive when he had to be. Rather than give him any sort of explanation, I just scoffed and bid him a quick farewell knowing full well he would still be able to hear me and turned towards the direction of Konoha's hospital and took my time heading towards there. Training ended early after all, there wasn't any need to rush it and take the rooftops. All the while I was pondering as to how I even had Lance Skyward as my master in the first place. Oh yeah, it kind of connected as to why I even made going to the hospital as my weekly ritual in the first place, I was actually going to check up on someone rather than have someone check up on me.

See, I'm not an only child. I'm actually the eldest son of the Rokudaime Hokage. The youngest son is my little _identical_ brother, Ryo Namikaze. Where's he been all this time you may ask? In the fucking hospital since the day we were both born. The entire reason why is more or less why I never really got to trust foreigners, or Lance-sensei for that matter.

It was sometime during the Elemental Nation's recovery after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, where both immigrants and missions were piling in to help speed up said recovery as soon as possible. Times were pretty desperate back then. All villages needed as much hands as they could get. This included my mother when she was just recently pregnant with both my brother and I. I never got the full details of what happened as even I understood how difficult it was for my mother to have to relive that night, though she had insisted in an effort to at least get some of it off her chest. Anyway, all that I could get from the story was that some hooded Magus attacked okaa-sama's squad that night, and killed everybody except her using skills we had yet to determine was magic at the time. Okaa-sama was supposed to be next, but the hooded man (at least, the foreigner sounded masculine based on mother's report) didn't go through with it. He only stared at okaa-sama a while longer and just laughed in a way that made my mother's blood run cold for some reason. Even with the battle only lasting a few minutes (where it only took those few minutes for the rogue Magus to slaughter her whole team), there was just something about that man that okaa-sama could feel from him that made her knew that this man was incredibly dangerous. That, if he wanted, he could have killed not only her, but countless others, maybe even a village, should he so wish to simply because he could. In the middle of her frozen state of mind, the man had neared mother before she had even realized it. She only had time to hear him whisper "I'll come back for those two in the future" before she was struck with an intense pain the likes of which she had never felt before.

It was as if someone had took multiple white-hot senbon needles set at the melting point and punctured her stomach repeatedly in the same spot simultaneously, only for the pain to constantly spread and gather and never giving her a moment to attempt to keep it all together and adapt to the pain. Her nerve clusters feeling as if they would explode violently from the harsh and unforgiving shocks her stomach constantly gave her and that she too would burst right after she felt her nervous system was about to.

But it had gone as quickly as it came, just like the man who she finally realized had also disappeared without a trace. Okaa-sama could only ponder what had transpired before her body finally gave in to the soothing call of sleep. When she woke up, it was in Konoha's hospital, with otou-sa- no, Hokage-sama at her side. He worried when she hadn't returned and had dispatched another team to search for her. Long story within a story short, the mission was successful and okaa-sama was sent to the hospital to be administered help. Strangely enough, there was nothing that the medics could find that was wrong with mother. However, her medical reports did come back to reveal that she was pregnant with twins. Of course, this was joyous news for my parents, hell for the whole village actually. For the next nine months, nothing could have deterred or dampened my parent's spirits, even if my mother was somewhat traumatized from that last mission and had to retire as a shinobi of Konohagakure. When finally, on December thirty-first, okaa-sama gave birth to me. Seven minutes later, on January first, my little brother, Ryo Namikaze, had entered the world as well.

That, as they say, was when shit hit the fan. My mother didn't just get mental scars from that night. Whatever that Magus did to my mother, it also affected my brother as well. Even though I had turned out perfectly healthy (although my parents had joked that I was born in a pouty mood as I didn't cry at all and that I only looked annoyed during the entire process of my birth), the same couldn't be said for Ryo.

My brother was born with Deteriorating Chakra Coils.

Chakra was more or less the essential life force all living beings relied on to survive. No matter how miniscule the amount may be, it didn't change the fact that everyone still had at least some amount of chakra within them. This fact was only further proven when it was discovered that even foreigners had chakra within them, although they just couldn't use jutsu as we could. Regardless, chakra was contained in what we called "chakra coils", which surrounded and were attached to the body's vital organs, mainly those that also produced chakra on its own needless to say. Without these coils though, the body would have no means to conduct chakra throughout its system, and therefore would shut down.

The same thing was happening to my brother at the time. Without a reliable way to send chakra throughout himself, my brother's body just turned itself off during his development in my mother's womb. Ryo was soon rushed off into life support and just sort of stayed in that state for the next coming years. Mother couldn't bear to kill her own child though, and spent most of her retirement taking care of a son who couldn't even breathe on his own without the aid of a machine and at least two people. Hokage-sama couldn't help as much either as he was left to deal with village matters as the foreigners had really started to pour in and because of that, had little to no time to spend with the family, something that he once said had "hurt [him] far worse than anything the war had ever done to him". I was left spending most of my time alone trying to get a feel for everything as okaa-sama was always too stressed from caring over my brother to properly deal with me and Hokage-sama had to prioritize village matters over family ones. Whatever that fucker had done that night all those years ago, it had ended my mother's career, sent my little brother into a coma, and created irremovable scars within my family before I even got the chance to truly properly understand who they were. Thereby giving me another reason to join the shinobi: to find this asshole and confront him.

I was determined to not be a burden however. Growing up, I never really made friends with anybody in Konoha. Not that I tried very hard anyway. I just couldn't connect well with the populace. It's kind of hard not to be a smartass when you're dealing with a room full of dumbasses after all. From the very start of my childhood, I already knew full well that I was different from not only my own age group, but from just about everybody else altogether. What they found "fun" and what they considered was "work" was vice-versa for me and I to them. As if it wasn't enough for the fact that I was shunned by my "peers" due to how I was the "Hokage's and the Hyuuga Heiress's son" and therefore was "entitled" to everything like a spoiled prince they thought I was, or how some noble families, not only from Konoha just so you know, would try to form family ties with mine via their whore daughters when their true intentions in trying to make their own social standing stronger couldn't be any more obvious.

No, screw that. Whereas some children wanted to become a Power Ranger, I wanted to be a ninja from the very beginning (though occasionally I still get fantasies about being a Pokémon Trainer every now and then, specifically when no one was watching). Most kids learned to crawl at around eight or so months, I on the other hand, was already on the walls and on the ceilings by their age. The Byakugan wasn't the only kekkei genkai that I inherited from mother after all. At times, having near-perfect chakra control as well as having obscene levels of chakra from Hokage-sama brought a lot of joy and amusement for me. Watching the jealousy that rolled off the faces of my already-envious peers skyrocket further as I was already shooting off fireballs and Shunshin'ing everywhere. Suck it, bitches.

And it was because I excelled so well in the shinobi arts that even Hokage-Sama couldn't stop me from being recruited into Anbu at the age of six (new record!). I could have entered earlier, but Hokage-sama, as well as others (Okaa-sama, Sasuke-kyofu, Sakura-kyobo, Tsunade-obaachan, Karin-obasan, Shikamaru-san etc), didn't want another repeat of Itachi Uchiha. Despite the Uchiha Massacre taking place decades before my time, it was still fresh in Konoha's dark history, especially for Sasuke-kyofu, who was just as adamant with stalling my training for as long as possible as my parents were. Let me take this moment to acknowledge that you guys were able to do so for like a year. I'm not even mad, that's actually pretty amazing. Still though, they couldn't have expected that such awesomeness to be naturally contained, so that was to be expected.

Believe me, I understood their intentions. There was a reason why children weren't allowed to enroll at the ninja academy until the age of six or seven, graduating at around the age of twelve. Joining the shinobi program _period_ guaranteed issues with one's mental and emotional state, and that wasn't even counting the potential job hazards that came with it. There was no reason for the younger generations to experience that so early on in life; again as exemplified by what happened with Itachi Uchiha. Still, I wanted to do something useful and to focus my efforts where it really mattered, to people that would actually give a damn. And I was glad that I was so stubborn with my early career choice, as it really did pay off. Whenever I completed a mission, it felt good. I was carving my own name into Konoha's history, and not living off another's success. The jealousy of my peers and the stupidity of their accusations that would forever remain unjustified was just a bonus. I could still clearly remember the time when Hokage-sama had officially promoted me into the Anbu Program just a few months ago.

_Flashback within a flashback__

_ "From this day forward, each and every one of you before me shall henceforth bear the insignia of __Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai, and serve to carry out Konohagakure's Will of Fire to the best of your ability as well as that of which is expected not only within the elite corps, but by all shinobi in Konoha's military. All of you who have managed to make it this far has proven not only to me, but to every person in this room, your fellow comrades, that you are someone who endures. Amongst all those who reside within the walls of Konoha, you are the best at what you do and represent the very foundation of what the ideal shinobi demands. Stand tall and proud, as from this moment on, you not only pledge your lives to your Hokage, but to Konoha as well as its ideals. You are now ANBU."_

_Dad was a dumbass at most times (hence my nickname of "Otou-baka" that I came up for him), but at least he could make a decent speech when the situation called for it. As expected of being a Hokage. Still, that didn't stop me from getting chills as I, along with about twenty-nine other talented new recruits, stood tall (well, as tall as I could be being a four-foot-one five, going on six year-old at the time anyway) only to all kneel for my father in unison when dad finally neared the end of what he had to say, "That will be all for now. Everybody except ANBU recruit no. 07 is dismissed and will wait for future orders". With that, in the blink of an eye the room was cleared by all except for me and otou-sama._

_I stood up only to see my father's eyes that were filled with a storm of emotions: pride, worry, happiness, disappointment, amusement. I could then feel the atmosphere of the room lighten as father allowed himself to relax back at his chair with his hands behind his neck. "I'm still kind of ticked off at you for joining ANBU you know"._

_I deadpanned. Oh c'mon, was he still sore about that? I could've sworn that we were already over this too. He had like half a year to let this sink in when I was training to become part of the ANBU corps. "Seriously? Was this all you wanted to talk about?" _

_Ok, maybe being cheeky at a time like this wasn't the best way to go if the vein that popped on his head was anything to go by. "Little punk…No what I wanted to discuss with you has to do with your involvement with ANBU." Wait what? "You will not be part of the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad – DAMMIT LEMME FINISH!" he barked as he saw that I was about to plead for my case (see: Bitch Fit), "…as I was saying, as much as I don't want to accept it, you are still one of this village's best, second only to me of course, heh," cue eye twitch from me here, "as such I am moving you to a different sector in ANBU where I know your skills would benefit the most. You will be my Personal ANBU Elite, where you will only undertake solo missions normally deemed too risky for ANBU, or any other shinobi really, to accept otherwise. It pains me as your father to give you such a position, but it's because of that very reason that makes me confidant enough in you that makes me suggest this in the first place. So how 'bout it Dante, do you want to work for and answer only to your old man?" my father asked as he finished off with the warm smile that I always associated him with. _

_Even though both he and mother were absent for a good chunk of my life, they hadn't truly forgotten me during my childhood whenever they had the time available. Those scattered memories of mother being a mom and father being a dumbass dad were amongst the most happiest I've ever remember being, and was what helped me go through the rough times with ANBU, which was really most of the time when it came to the elites. _

_How could I possibly turn down the offer? Making this man proud of me was also a huge factor in my career choice as to why I even wanted to be a ninja in the first place, "I accept," I answered clearly as I couldn't resist bowing to otou-sama as emphasis as to how important this all was for the both of us. I could practically feel the pride that radiated off of him._

"_Then for the entire duration as my Personal ANBU, you will be codenamed Atlas"._

_Ok, that was a new one. "Atlas, sir?"_

_Hokage-sama chuckled lightly at my lack of knowledge, a rare moment after all, "The name comes from Mythology from North America. It's the name of a Greek Titan who was burdened with holding the entire world on his shoulders. The one who prevents the world as we know it from collapsing within itself." Oh hell yeah, I was expecting just getting some random animal codename and a mask to go with it, but that? That's just pure badassery. I was in. _

_Flashback within a flashback, (end)__

I mean, sure, being Hokage-sama's Personal Anbu had its ups and downs. Even if I realized moments later after being initiated that being a PA was probably a made-up job that Hokage-sama created on the spot in an effort to keep an eye on me not only as village leader, but also as my father (Seriously though, ANBU was already considered a private and personal branch that only answered to the Hokage. What did that make me, even more personal?). That didn't make the missions any less real however, even if it wasn't the suicide-level missions that Hokage-sama told me they were. They were still A-, sometimes the rare S-, ranked missions that were thrown in my direction. Ironically, in a way, it really did bring me closer to my family. That being said, I wasn't allowed to discuss mission reports outside my job. Not because they were classified, well there was that too, but I guess it's because I always chose a poor time to discuss them (i.e. telling my parents over dinner about this one cool moment where I stabbed this one thug in his Adam's Apple via a kunai with an exploding note attached, and then hauling ass out of the whore house with the decapitated head of the assigned target. Classic). So I got a few mental scars from it as well as my own fair share of stabbings, you honestly think any other job is different?

I saw that I had finally approached my destination. Opening the doors of Konoha's hospital, I quickly went through my usual routine, already having done so many times. Checking in, making small talk with the receptionist, dropping by the offices of the people I knew here, and later proceeding to go to otouto's room. I wasn't surprised to see okaa-sama already there sitting by Ryo's bed. I sighed.

"You should set an example for him; learn to at least take care of yourself first," I spoke softly behind her. I immediately regretted saying anything at all. No matter how well she tried to hide it, I could tell I had startled her. Nothing too discernible, but everyone, not just family or those close to her, always took care to always be gentle with her given her condition. Despite what those medical reports said all those years ago, even though there was nothing that could be identified as "wrong" with okaa-sama, she was never the same ever since that night. She became overly sensitive with everything: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Almost like very brittle glass, as if the slightest bit of force would send her over the edge and she'd shatter. She got sick and fatigued easily. It always seemed like the smallest breeze would push her. The outside temperature was always too cold or too hot for her. Despite being as young as she was in her mid-to-late-twenties, okaa-sama had the constitution of someone older than Tsunade-baachan. Always so pale and with a soft-spoken voice, so patient, there were hardly any moments where mother ever raised her voice at me, hell at anyone period.

There were times where she cried a lot, though. Whether it was over the condition of Ryo, or the distress she felt for her husband when work was sometimes just unbearable what with the recovery and the appearance of the foreigners. The worst had to have been when she had found out that I had joined ANBU. No amount of conditioning would have prepared me for the moment's shame and pain that had pierced my heart when I saw my mother's face. But being the incredible woman that she was, however, she came to terms with it, and like Hokage-sama, was proud of me and my accomplishments.

"Dante-kun, I've thought I told you countless times already, please make noise when you approach someone!" mother had lectured me sternly. Though I could still detect the small amount of playfulness and joy she always had around wore for me when I or Hokage-sama were near her presence.

"Sorry mother, habit is all". One does not simply switch off a childhood's worth of ninja conditioning after all.

I pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, which of course, was right next to Ryo's bed, and we continued exchanging pleasantries. New stories to tell that had happened since the last time I visited her and otouto last week, how my training was coming along, how Hinabi-obasan was doing as clan head (she usually filled in for mother nowadays when she was preoccupied) and in general, old memories from mother's youth, etc. Eventually it just died down to uncomfortable silence, like always. Every now and then okaa-sama seemed like she was trying to initiate another conversation, but backed down at the end every time. It was difficult, but over the years since I first started these visits, I had learned to ignore this and just concentrated on the quietness, awkwardness notwithstanding.

At some point I started to focus on Ryo. He really was my identical twin, at least in appearance of course. We both shared the same facial structure as Hokage-sama, whom had said all three of us had gotten from Minato-ojiisan, just that otouto's was just slightly more round at the chin. Ryo and I also strangely had the same somewhat light brown hair. This probably came from mother's side of the family. Wish I had gotten the Hyuuga Clan's straight hair though. Both mine and Ryo's were messy as all hell and always gave us a "just got of bed look" no matter what you did to it, though in otouto's case, still in bed. Being in the coma that he was in, however, I never really found out what Ryo's eye color was. I got bored and super curious one time and decided to break into the hospital's records and snatched Ryo's file, where it mentioned that his eyes were something of a light brown. All done for shits and giggles of course. I, however, had Heterochromia Iridium, which just meant I had one eye that was an Ocean Blue, and the other a Stormy Gray. Personality-wise, though, I don't know what to tell you. Sure, I sided with my parents in terms of peace, but that didn't mean beating the shit out of people that ticked me off and making them bow for me wasn't enjoyable. Not at all. Stabbing the occasional bad guy also brought me a hoot now and then too. If you were expecting something more in-depth to fill a lameass novel or a biography or something, then you're shit out of luck. Moving on.

'You selfish little punk,' I couldn't help but think, as I stared at his resting, sickly-pale face. Horrible as it was to think so, I barely gave a damn. Here he was literally in his own little world with no worry about what went on with the rest of the world. No concern over how Hokage-sama, okaa-sama, the rest of the village, or even how I felt. How much trouble he caused by not ever even doing anything at all, or how he wasted Konoha's resources for constantly being in life support when it could have been used for someone who needed it just as much as he did and actually had the chance to recover. Or maybe-

Wow I really need to get out more. I shook my head without okaa-sama's notice to clear myself from such morbid thinking. Regardless of the situation, I was still that little baka's onii-san, his older brother. Even if all the guy knew how to do in six years of life was basic bodily functions, I still had to represent as a good role model for him! I checked the time from a clock on the wall. Forty-five minutes. That was a long enough, if not awkward visit right? I could never get down the timing as to when or how it was acceptable to leave during these visits.

"Ah, are you leaving?" mother had asked when she noticed me standing up. "If you want, I could have the maids to prepare you dinner when you come home."

"I'll be fine, mother. See to it that you take care of yourself as well, I think I'll just shower and go directly to bed, I'm drained today," I replied. And I wasn't lying. It was strange, even though training with Lance-Sensei had ended early, I was mentally exhausted. Is it so bad that I always got an adrenaline rush by the end of these hospital visits? It's wasn't like they were supposed to be enjoyable anyway

After bidding a farewell to okaa-sama, I decided to take the rooftops home this time. The calling for a relaxing night of sleep in my kick-ass bed was just overwhelming by this point. Not too long after I approached my home, I said a quick hello to the maids (that my parents had hired when they realized that they were going to be too busy to care for the house by themselves), declined dinner, showered, and hopped into bed. With nothing really on my mind, I closed my eyes and drifted off to a much needed slumber.

**Author's Notes:** Another chapter down. Not sure what you guys are expecting with each chapter, so sorry if this wasn't your cup of tea. So like I warned earlier, there are quite of few "easter eggs" in this chapter, just small quotes and stuff, see if you can find 'em. The most glaring one I believe is a nod towards Kagaseo's Atlas story. Go read his to see where I got the inspiration for the codename Atlas from. His work is definitely underrated and deserves more reviews.

So yeah, a little more insight on Dante and his character. You'll notice that eventually I started to have Dante refer to Naruto as "Hokage-sama" instead of as his father. There'll be a reason for that next chapter, as well as how my OC Lance Skyward ties into this. Hope to post the next chapter soon and as said before, drop me a review or dozen, I want to know you guys' opinions.

P.S TFS is the shit. That is all


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